Because of the problems happening in Libya, the Dow Jones Industrial Average took a serious hit, dropping over 170 points. While I hate to see our economy take a hit, Republicans won't agree to emergency spending for unemployment benefits unless the economy is taking a serious hit. I actually pray every day that the Dow keeps taking hits and sinks below 10,000. We really need something to inspire Republicans to pass emergency unemployment benefits.

Last edited by kemcha on Wed Mar 16, 2011 4:34 pm; edited 5 times in total

U.S. stocks were headed for a major sell-off at the start of trading Tuesday, following an 11% drop in Japan's leading index in the wake of a nuclear crisis caused by last week's earthquake.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/03/15/markets/premarkets/index.htm

Tokyo stocks plummet as crisis deepens. Panic overtook investors in Japan on Tuesday, with stocks plunging more than 10%, as the nation's nuclear crisis deepened in the aftermath of last week's earthquake.

On October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 508 points, a 22.6% loss in a single day, the second-biggest one-day drop the exchange had experienced, prompting officials at the exchange to invoke for the first time the "circuit breaker" rule to halt all trading. This was a very controversial move and led to a quick change in the rule; trading now halts for an hour, two hours, or the rest of the day when the DJIA drops 10, 20, or 30 percent, respectively. In the afternoon, the 10% and 20% drops will halt trading for a shorter period of time, but a 30% drop will always close the exchange for the day.

I doubt it ... the Japanese are very very particular and I don't see the Japanese government allowing them into the country. Not after the problems created by these private companies in Afghanistan and Iraq.

I'll be right as rain if the Japanese keep Halliburton out of their country. Not after they swindled taxpayers with their "no-bid" contracts they squeezed our of the Bush Administration for Iraq and Afghanistan.

There's news coming out of Japan that the Tokyo Stock Exchange is due to get hit again before today's trading is over and that it could also affect the New York Stock Exchange. Currently, it's trading down at 15 points under.